Improvement in dividers



UNrrED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

CHARLES M. NICHOLS, OF WEST GREENWIOH, RHODE ISLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN DIVIDERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 119,875, dated October10, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, CHARLES M. NICHOLS, of West Greenwich, in the countyof Kent and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain Improvements inDividers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawing forming part of this specification, in which my invention isrepresented by a perspective view.

My invention has for its object to improve that class of dividers whichis adapted to receive marking-pens or pencils for drawing parallel linessimultaneously.

The means heretofore employed to accomplish this result consists inpassing the pencils through short metal tubes, which are then slippedupon the legs of the dividers, the friction of the tubes upon thetapered legs serving to hold the attachment in place. This method ofapplying the pencils is objectionable for the following reasons, to wit:First, the tubes must at all times be held at the samepoint upon thelegs, and are consequently incapable of adjustment to compensate for thewear of the pencils. When, therefore, the latter become so worn as toextend only to the points of the legs their places must be supplied withnew and longer ones. Second, the pencils being arranged upon the outsideof the legs, the latter in all cases being round, the tubes are liableto turn on the legs, thereby changing the relative position of thepencils. For example, the dividers, with the pencils on the outside ofthe legs,being first opened to the predetermined distance for markingparallel lines, are moved over the object to be marked; as the markingproceeds the pencils and their tubes turn on the legs, following thelatter, and consequently decreasing the distance between the lines. Thesame objection arises, also, when but one pencil is used in describing acircle.

^ My invention is designed to overcome these difficulties 5 and to thisend it consists in changing the construction of the dividers themselves,by forming a longitudinal groove in each leg, the grooves being onopposite sides of the dividers, in which the pencils are held by claspscapable of adjustment upon both the pencils and legs.

By this construction the pencils are prevented from turning around thelegs, and are rendered adjustable at any point between the ends of saidlegs and their pivot.

In the drawing, A is a pair of common dividers, having a longitudinalgroove, e, in the side of each leg, arranged ou that side which will bethe right side of the leg, further from, and the left side of thatnearer to, the spectator, the grooves, of course, being on oppositesides of the instrument. In connection with each groove I employ one ormore clasps, C, sliding on the leg, and provided with a setscrew, s, tofix it in place at any point, and at the same time to clamp the pencil Pfirmly in the groove. The ends of y the legs are pointed, so that theinstrument without the pencils and clasps will not differ from theold-fashioned dividers except in the employment of the grooves.

v The instrument thus formed is not a mere duplication oftheold-fashioned dividers, with provision for holding a single pen orpencil, but is capable of several new and convenient uses. It will befound particularly useful in marking parallel lines, whether straight orcurved, and in laying off figures from patterns, it being adapted toproduce the figure at a distance from the edge of the pattern. In manyinstances it will prove very convenient where it is desirable to drawonel curved line after another without raising the instrument from thepaper or other plane surface.

The pencil, being on the ri ght-hand side of the marking-leg, willalways be supported thereby. A hole may be drilled in the side of theleg to receive the end of the set-screw, so that when the pencil is notin use the clasps shall not slip off of the instrument and get lost.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The dividers constructed with pointed legs of equal length havinggrooves e e arranged in each leg, as described, and provided also withthe adjustable clasps c c to hold the pens or pencils within thegrooves, as herein shown and described, for the purposes specified.

CHARLES M. NICHOLS.

Witnesses:

A. C. RAWLINes,

N. K. ELLswoRTH, (97)

